Blake's 6th Birthday

 Blake's Birthday sure was a blast.  Kids should always have their birthdays on Saturdays, it was a day of non-stop fun.  We started our day with some shopping at Downtown Disney and a trip to Ridemakerz.  I've decided this is like the American Girl store, but for boys.

Blake and his grin.  He won't smile because he doesn't want to show how many teeth he is missing.

It's kind of like Build-A-Bear with cars.  You pick a basic car, and then there are thousands of different accessories you can get with it, and you can make it a remote control car if you wish.

Once you pick everything out, then you actually have to put the car together.  Here he is working on it.  

And there it is, the finished product.  He chose a Camaro.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's because there are two guys on our street with black Camaros he thinks are pretty cool.  This is on cool car.  It has lights, makes noise, and goes way to fast....

Camaro complete we headed to the ESPN Zone for some games.  

Leah made sure to get in on the fun.

Here he is trying out his new Rockboard scooter.  This kid is a rocking machine.  He figured it out in a flash and is really enjoying racing it up and down the streeet.  He also got a good dose of Legos and some Beyblades to keep him busy until Christmas.

 

 

 
Blake discovered he loves Almond Joy bars at Halloween, so I made him Almond Joy cupcakes complete with Almond Joy footballs for decorations.  I tried to get him to put on a shirt for the picture, but he refused.  These days he thinks shirts are optional clothing...we are working on it.  

Halloween 2011

We celebrated Halloween at "Blocktober" a huge block party at Saddleback Church.  It was like trick or treating and going to the biggest carnival all in one.  The kids got loads of candy.  So much they complained their bags were too heavy.  They had fun getting their faces painted, playing carnival games and doing the inflatables.  I didn't get many pictures because I was too busy keeping up with everybody.  But here's a few!

Eddie got in on the fun for the pie eating contest.  Blake won :)

The Santa Monica Pier

On a sunny southern California day, we visited the Santa Monica Pier!  Here are the kids and the view looking out towards the end of the pier.

Here are my girls in their shades strutting their stuff on the pier.  Notice Leah has her purse. 

The kids got in on the action with this performer in the middle of the pier.  I say PARTY you say TIME....PARTY TIME!  It was too funny!

Here we are at the end of the pier looking back at the beach. 

There is an arcade and an amusement park on the pier.  Of course we couldn't pass up the arcade.  Does this look like the machine from BIG?  We thought so, so we tried it.  Turns out Eddie and Blake did not switch places.

Kara hit the 1000 ticket jackpot.  She was so excited.  It took a long time for the machine to spit out 1000 tickets.  And then she did something very surprising...she used the tickets to get a prize for Blake!

Also at the pier was a little aquarium.  The kids had fun seeing some of the sea creatures up close.

And they got to touch some too.

We finished up the trip with a ride on a really old carousel and ice cream drinks from the old time soda fountain.  It was a fun day, we are enjoying discovering California!